everyfaithmatters
Good Practice - Leadership and Management
How effective are the leadership and management of the school as a Church school?
Consulting parents is crucial. We introduced an Eid week to get parents on board and involve them. We organised craft activities but the Asian parents didn't come - only the white parents. Instead Asian parents came and brought the party food on Friday. They didn't want to do art activities. | When incidents happen you have to be careful how you deal with them. Muslim parents were vocal in decrying what happened on 9/11. Immediately all the children were brought together and we spoke to them. In some respects that's brought communities together. Coming together at points of crisis is really important. |
| As a school we found it difficult to make contact with the mosque. But we did so through the parents. We were concerned about children missing school with visits to Pakistan. We got a parent to work with the imam in the mosque. Asian governors were important. We tried to stretch out to all the communities in the school. | We have to be careful in making assumptions about what communities want. An Asian governor said (of concerns expressed by other parents) - "what do they expect if they come to a Church school? This is a Christian school - if children come here they're going to sing Christian hymns." |
| At such times communities need support given the perceptions that can be around. So Muslims felt under threat, on the playground for example. One of the things that encouraged me, was when the Pakistan earthquake took place, it was the white parents who asked if we as a school could do something. | Finding common causes and charities to support, helps draw communities together. And children often have their own ideas of causes to support and will organise their own activities. |
| We adopted healthy eating, but it became a cultural diversity issue as well. Parents from the Pakistani community were asked what they might put in the lunchboxes. We've got three parents who are keen on forming a parental committee talking about culturally diverse food. | We built up trust with Muslim parents so that children would go to the Hindu temple. Communities need to understand what we're doing in schools |
| During Ramadan, staff have visited parental homes to share in food and home celebrations. This has increased parental visits and contacts with the school. |
If you have encountered examples of good practice please email the Revd Andrew Wickens, Dudley Education Chaplain, on awickens@cofe-worcester.org.uk
